Sarasota Ballet

DNG is The Sarasota Ballet’s ten-year, full scholarship dance program designed for students who are from low-income backgrounds or are at-risk of dropping out of school. The program introduces students to the joy and expression of movement through a variety of dance styles including as well as important life lessons from the discipline of ballet. Every student who graduates from DNG and is academically qualified is eligible to apply for a scholarship at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota or University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. The program has been awarded the “Coming Up Taller” award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and it has also been recognized by the Sarasota County School board as a drop-out prevention program. Each year, The Sarasota Ballet accepts 40 to 50 new students into the DNG program and provides them with ballet clothes and shoes. The facilities feature 3 fully equipped dance studios, 2 classrooms and a computer lab where students receive educational support from dedicated volunteers. Graduates of the program have gone on to study at universities around the nation and have become professionals in all walks of life, from dancers to dentists, paralegals to historians.